Senate panel told of meth ‘crisis’ in Indian Country

By Noelle Straub
The Missoulian

WASHINGTON - Federal officials and tribal leaders testified at a congressional hearing Wednesday that the methamphetamine problem in Indian Country urgently requires increased funding for prevention and treatment programs and more law enforcement coordination.

“The situation can be described in a single word: crisis,” said Robert McSwain, deputy director of the federal Indian Health Service, at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing.

Methamphetamine has contributed to the high rate of violent crime in Indian Country, devastated Native families and strained resources of tribal law enforcement, health and social services programs, said Matthew Mead, the U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming.

Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., who sits on the Indian Affairs Committee, asked Mead and the other witnesses what the special obstacles are to dealing with meth on reservations.

“Indian Country is unique because of, and this is not an exhaustive list, the size of the reservation, wide dispersal of residents, limited numbers of law enforcement officers and the distinctive heritage and culture of the Native Americans,” Mead said.

Mead said 80 percent of meth consumed in this country comes from “super labs” that are capable of producing at least 10 pounds of meth within a production cycle, and are run by Mexican traffickers in that country or in California. The other 20 percent is made in small labs in the United States, often by meth abusers.

Gangs have begun to infiltrate Native lands, Mead said, with some Mexican criminals marrying American Indian women in order to gain a foothold on reservations.

On Indian lands, Mead said, there are fewer than two law enforcement officers per 1,000 residents, compared with a range of 3.9 to 6.6 officers per 1,000 residents in non-tribal lands.

He also noted that the difficulty of bringing in outside undercover agents for stings on tight-knit reservations. He said families come under great pressure not to cooperate with officers.

Although not a member of the committee, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., attended the hearing. He said the meth problem is compounded in Indian Country by a number of factors, including poverty.

“One need only look at the Billings area to see this problem,” Burns said. “The median household income for families on reservations near Billings is around $14,000 a year. (That) affects families' ability to provide nutrition, health care and housing for their children.”

Burns said the number of addicts seeking treatment exceeds the capacity of treatment facilities and that there are no treatment centers on Montana reservations.

“In order to receive help, Montana's Indian youth are taken out of the communities that they know and are placed in facilities dominated by non-tribal members,” he said.

Law enforcement efforts have been “fractured,” and a lack of resources has also affected the spread of meth in Indian Country, Burns added.

Mead cited two recent Wyoming cases that show how federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement can work together. Last year saw a crackdown on the Goodman drug trafficking organization, a family-run crime organization on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

The organization served 20 to 50 drug customers a day and distributed at least 1 pound of meth per month on the reservation, Mead said, but 22 of the 25 federal defendants now have been convicted.

Mead also cited the breakup of a Mexican drug trafficking organization and the successful prosecution last year of its leader, Jesus Martin Sagaste-Cruz.

Ivan Posey, chairman of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, missed the hearing because of airline problems, but submitted written testimony.

Posey called for education, additional treatment facilities and funding for prevention and social services programs, including foster care.

“What is needed in Indian Country are residential treatment facilities that address chemical dependency in sometimes a cultural and traditional manner,” he said. “Eighty percent of all residents in the Rock Springs, Wyo., treatment facility are from Fremont County, where we reside. This facility is 2.5 hours away from our home.”

He said four homicides in 2004 involved meth use on the Wind River Reservation. He also cited 284 drug-related misdemeanors in 2004 and 99 in 2005.

Indian Affairs Vice Chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said he and Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., would introduce an amendment to make tribal governments eligible for grants under the Patriot Act for anti-meth programs.

Kathleen Wesley-Kitcheyan, chairwoman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona, talked about her reluctance to testify, saying it felt like airing her family's dirty laundry.

But she felt compelled after learning that 64 of the 256 babies born to tribal members in 2004 were addicted to meth, and that the number increased in 2005, she said.

She also cited cases of a 9-year-old boy using meth, a mother on meth who stabbed her baby to death, and meth-related suicides among the approximately 13,000 tribal members.